FEE TIMELY CLASSIC
Neither Left Nor Right
BY LEONARD E. READ
hy, you are neither left nor right!”
This observation, following a speech of
mine, showed rare discernment. It was rare
because I have seldom heard it made. It was discerning
because it was accurate.
Most of us seem always to be reaching for word simplifications—handy generalizations—for they often aid
speech. They take the place of long, drawn-out definitions.Yet, care must be exercised lest these word-shorties play semantic tricks and do a disservice to those who
use them. Such, I fear, is the case with
“left” and “right” when used by libertarians who, I hope to demonstrate, are neither left nor right in the accepted parlance
of our day.
“Left” and “right” are each descriptive
of authoritarian positions. Liberty has no
horizontal relationship to authoritarianism. Libertarianism’s relationship to
authoritarianism is vertical; it is up from
the muck of men enslaving man. But, let’s
begin at the beginning.
Leonard E. Read
There was a time when “left” and
“right” were appropriate and not inaccurate designations of ideological differences.“The first Leftists were a
group of newly elected representatives to the National
Constituent Assembly at the beginning of the French
Revolution in 1789. They were labeled ‘Leftists’ merely
because they happened to sit on the left side in the
French Assembly.
“The legislators who sat on the right side were
referred to as the Party of the Right, or Rightists. The
Rightists or ‘reactionaries’ stood for a highly centralized
national government, special laws and privileges for
“
W
THE FREEMAN: Ideas on Liberty
unions and various other groups and classes, government
economic monopolies in various necessities of life, and
a continuation of government controls over prices, production, and distribution.” (Dean Russell, The First Leftist [Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Foundation for
Economic Education, 1951], p. 3.)
The leftists were, for all practical purposes, ideologically similar to those of us who call ourselves “libertarians.” The rightists were ideological opposites: statists,
interventionists, in short, authoritarians. “Left” and
“right” in France, during 1789–90, had a
semantic handiness and a high degree of
accuracy.
But “leftist” was soon expropriated by
the authoritarian Jacobins and came to
have an opposite meaning. “Leftist”
became descriptive of egalitarians and was
associated with Marxian socialism: communism, socialism, Fabianism.
What, then, of “rightist”? Where did it
fit in this semantic reversal of “leftist”?
The staff of the Moscow apparatus has
taken care of that for us, and to their
advantage: Anything not communist or socialist they
decreed and propagandized as “fascist.”This is by way of
saying that any ideology that is not communist (left) is
now popularly established as fascist (right).
Let’s take a look at Webster’s definition of fascism:
“Any program for setting up a centralized autocratic
national regime with severely nationalistic policies, exerLeonard Read established FEE in 1946 and served as its president until
his death in 1983.This article is excerpted from the January 1956 issue of
The Freeman.
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Neither Left Nor Right
ism—the use of police force to control the creative life
of man. To him, communism, fascism, nazism, Fabianism, the welfare state—all egalitarianism—fit the definitive description that Plato, perhaps cynically, gave us
centuries before any of these coercive systems were
evolved:
cising regimentation of industry, commerce, and finance,
rigid censorship, and forcible suppression of opposition.”
What, actually, is the difference between communism
and fascism? Both are forms of statism, authoritarianism.
The only difference between Stalin’s communism and
Mussolini’s fascism is an insignificant detail in organizational structure. But one is “left” and the other is “right”!
Where does this leave the libertarian in a world of
Moscow word-making? The libertarian is, in reality, the
opposite of the communist. Yet, if the libertarian
employs the terms “left” and “right,” he is falling into the
semantic trap of being a “rightist” (fascist) by virtue of
not being a “leftist” (communist). This is a semantic
graveyard for libertarians, a word device that excludes
their existence.While those with Moscow relations will
continue this theme, there is every reason why libertarians should avoid it.
One important disadvantage of a libertarian’s use of
the left-right terminology is the wide-open opportunity for applying the golden-mean theory. For some twenty centuries Western man has come to accept the
Aristotelian theory that the sensible position is between
any two extremes, known politically today as the “middle-of-the-road” position. Now, if libertarians use the
terms “left” and “right,” they announce themselves to be
extreme right by virtue of being extremely distant in
their beliefs from communism. But “right” has been successfully identified with fascism. Therefore, more and
more persons are led to believe that the sound position
is somewhere between communism and fascism, both
spelling authoritarianism.
The golden-mean theory cannot properly be applied
indiscriminately. For instance, it is sound enough when
deciding between no food at all on the one hand or
gluttony on the other hand. But it is patently unsound
when deciding between stealing nothing or stealing
$1,000. The golden mean would commend stealing
$500. Thus, the golden mean has no more soundness
when applied to communism and fascism (two names
for the same thing) than it does to two amounts in
theft.
The libertarian can have no truck with “left” or
“right” because he regrets any form of authoritarian-
The greatest principle of all is that nobody,
whether male or female, should be without a leader.
Nor should the mind of anybody be habituated to
letting him do anything at all on his own initiative;
neither out of zeal, nor even playfully. But in war as
well as in the midst of peace—to his leader he shall
direct his eye and follow him faithfully. And even in
the smallest matter he should stand under leadership.
For example, he should get up, or move, or wash, or
take his meals . . . only if he has been told to do so.
. . . In a word, he should teach his soul, by long habit,
never to dream of acting independently, and, in fact,
to become utterly incapable of it.
Ascending the Degradation
ibertarians reject this principle and in so doing are
not to the right or left of authoritarians.They, as the
human spirit they would free, ascend—are above—this
degradation. Their position, if directional analogies are
to be used, is up—in the sense that vapor from a muckheap rises to a wholesome atmosphere. If the idea of
extremity is to be applied to a libertarian, let it be based
on how extremely well he has shed himself of authoritarian beliefs.
Establish this concept of emerging, of freeing—
which is the meaning of libertarianism—and the golden-mean or “middle-of-the-road” theory becomes
inapplicable. For there can be no halfway position
between zero and infinity. It is absurd to suggest that
there can be.
What simplified term should libertarians employ to
distinguish themselves from the Moscow brand of “leftists” and “rightists”? I have not invented one but until I
do I shall content myself by saying, “I am a libertarian,”
standing ready to explain the definition to anyone who
seeks meaning instead of trademarks.
L
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006